Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02595234 2007-07-30
SLATTED DEVICE FOR STABLE FLOORS
DESCRIPTION
Field of the invention
The invention relates to a slatted device for stable floors, suitable for
being installed
as a separation between the waste pit and the stable compartments, comprising
a
chassis and a movable trap door with a plurality of openings, with the trap
door
resting on the chassis.
State of the art
The floors of the compartments of stabled animals usually have grooves or open-
ings that separate the animals' compartments from the pit below for collecting
their
excrements. The grooves are sized so that in preventing damage to the animal's
feet, they allow said excrements to fall into the pit. However, in the case of
com-
partments for large animals, and particularly the compartments for mother
animals,
the volume of excrements and the small size of the grooves, does not allow the
ex-
crements to fall easily into the pit. This means that these compartments have
to be
cleaned manually by a worker.
To facilitate cleaning these compartments, in the state of the art manholes in
the
floor have been used consisting of a hole with a removable trap door or a
rotary trap
door. In both cases, during the stable cleaning operation there is the risk of
the
young animals falling into the hole. Moreover, in the case of the removable
trap
door, there is the added risk of the trap door falling into the hole, whereby
it has to
be recovered from a particularly insalubrious environment. Finally, the rotary
trap
door always infers with the cleaning operation, because one of the sides of
the hole
is obstructed by the actual trap door.
The invention poses the technical problem of facilitating the cleaning of this
type of
stable compartments, avoiding the drawbacks caused by the trap door. In
addition,
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an object of this invention is also to prevent young animals from falling into
the pit
during the cleaning operation of the stable compartment floor.
Disclosure of the invention
This aim is achieved by means of a slatted device for stable floors of the
type indi-
cated at the beginning, characterised in that between the chassis and the trap
door
sliding hinge means are provided, so that through these sliding hinge means,
the
trap door can swing and move with respect to the chassis to a position in
which the
trap door can be inserted into the pit in a downward movement.
In fact, thanks to the sliding hinge means, not only can the trap door swing,
but it
can also be retracted into the pit. Therefore it is much easier to clean the
stable
compartment floor, because the excrements can be comfortably removed by push-
ing them inside the pit from any side of the slatted device. Also, the
downwards
movement of the trap door causes most of the excrements deposited on its
surface
to also fall into the pit. So it is simpler, more hygienic and quicker to
clean the stable
compartment floor than in the case of the usual state-of-the-art stable
floors.
It is also worth highlighting that the device according to the invention can
be
mounted on a brick floor, for example a cement floor, or it can be part of a
larger
slat covering the whole of the stable compartment floor.
Preferably, in the device according to the invention the chassis comprises a
frame
and the sliding hinge means are the combination of an axis and at least two
side
guides, with the axis extending between opposite faces of the frame and the
side
guides being provided on the trap door.
Also, it is particularly preferable that the axis comprises at least two inner
pivots
provided on the opposite faces of said frame. This arrangement considerably
sim-
plifies the assembly, since, for example, these pivots can be clicked inside
the side
guides of the trap door.
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As mentioned, another of the problems posed by opening the trap door is the
high
risk that the mothers' young may fall accidentally into the pit during the
cleaning
operation. Therefore, preferably the chassis comprises a secondary slat
provided
below the trap door. In fact, this secondary slat has larger holes than those
of the
trap door, which the animals walk over. Therefore, the openings of the
secondary
slat allow the excrements to fall easily into the pit. However, these openings
are
small enough to prevent any young animals from falling accidentally into the
pit.
The animals' compartment is cleaned regularly, and therefore the secondary
slat
gets progressively dirty. In the medium term, the excrements dry on the
surface of
the secondary slat, thereby reducing the size of its openings. Therefore, from
time
to time, for example, when the mothers and their young are moved to other
stable
compartments and this compartment remains empty temporarily, it may be inter-
esting to thoroughly clean the slatted device. Therefore, preferably the
secondary
slat can be removed from said frame. This way said secondary slat can be
cleaned
thoroughly with a water jet outside the stable.
The trap door of the device according to the invention can always swing and
move
with respect to the chassis. However, depending on the position in the pit of
the trap
door once it is retracted, the amount of excrements that knocks against said
trap
door will vary. Therefore, preferably, the inner pivots are provided near a
first end of
the frame. This way the trap door in its retracted position interferes as
little as pos-
sible, therefore allowing the stable compartment floor to be cleaned
comfortably.
Also, it prevents the trap door from getting excessively dirty.
In order to facilitate the cleaning of the stable compartment as much as
possible, it
is desirable that the pit hole be as large as possible and that at the same
time, the
trap door, in its retracted position, interferes as little as possible with
the excrements
falling into the pit. Consequently, preferably, the frame is rectangular and
the inner
pivots are provided on the longer faces of said frame. Therefore, in this
advanta-
geous arrangement the pit inlet hole, in the longitudinal direction, is
completely free.
This makes it considerably easier to remove the excrements and significantly
re-
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duces the amount of excrements that knocks against the top surface of the trap
door as it falls, thereby improving the cleaning of the stable compartment
floor.
If the joining elements between the trap door and the chassis are, for
example,
screws, it may be difficult to remove the trap door because the dried
excrements on
these joining elements cause premature rusting that makes it difficult to
remove the
trap door. So, preferably the side guides of the trap door are open at one
end. This
means that the sliding hinge means do not have any joining elements that need
to
be removed using tools, and therefore the trap door can be assembled and re-
moved from the chassis very easily.
It is important to ensure that the stabled animals, and particularly the
mothers, can-
not open the trap door of the slatted device because of the risk this
represents for
the young animals. In particular, if the animals walk on the area between the
hinge
axis and the pit wall nearest the axis, and parallel to it, with their weight
they can
generate an opening torque that could lift the trap door. This accidental
opening
could cause the young to fall onto the secondary slat or become trapped
between
the trap door and the chassis. To avoid this, preferably the slatted device
envisages
clicking means between the trap door and the secondary slat
Brief description of the drawings
Other advantages and characteristics of the invention will be appreciated from
the
following non-limiting description of a preferable embodiment of the
invention, with
reference to the attached drawings, in which:
Fig. 1, an isometric perspective view of a stable floor with a slatted device
according
to the invention.
Fig. 2, an exploded isometric perspective view of the floor with the slatted
device of
Figure 1.
Fig. 3, a perspective view of the slatted device according to the invention,
with the
trap door in its folded position.
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Fig. 4, a perspective view of the slatted device according to the invention,
with the
trap door in its retracted position.
Detailed description of an embodiment of the invention
Figures 1 and 2 show a slatted device 1 according to the invention mounted in
a
suitable housing 16 of a stable floor 14. In this case, stable floor 14 also
has a slat.
However, device 1 according to the invention can also be mounted on
construction
floors, without departing from the object of the invention, in other words,
simplifying
the cleaning of the stable compartment floor. Therefore, slatted device 1 is
assem-
bled so that is separates the stable compartment from the pit 15, not shown
but
referenced, located below the floor 14.
As it can be better seen in Figure 2, the slatted device mainly comprises a
chassis 2
and a movable trap door 3. Trap door 3 has a plurality of openings 6 intended
to
prevent the excessive accumulation of excrements. Chassis 2 comprises a
removal
hole 17 over which trap door 3 is assembled. Between chassis 2 and trap door
3,
sliding hinge means 11 are provided that allow trap door 3 to swing and move
with
respect to chassis 2, so that said trap door, during the operation of cleaning
floor 14
of the stable compartment, is concealed inside pit 15.
In this embodiment, chassis 2 comprises a rectangular frame 4 that surrounds
re-
moval hole 17. Over opposite longer faces 8 of frame 4, near a first end 10 of
the
frame 4, two inner pivots 12 are provided that define a hinge axis 5.
Moreover, trap
door 3 has side guides 7 in the shape of a groove open at one end. This way,
slid-
ing hinge means 11 are the result of inserting pivots 12 into side guides 7 of
trap
door 3. Naturally, this is not the only possible arrangement of sliding hinge
means
11. Therefore, for example, pivots 12 could be replaced with a rigid rod that
extends
between opposite faces 8 of frame 4. Furthermore, it would also be feasible
for side
guides 7 to be provided on frame 4 and for trap door 3 to have pivots suitable
for
cooperating with side guides 7. Also the fact that side guides 7 of trap door
3 are
open at one end is an important advantage, because it avoids using additional
join-
ing elements, such as for example, screws. However, the invention also contem-
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plates the possibility that pivots 12 can be threaded so as to ensure trap
door 3 is
attached more firmly.
Chassis 2, also comprises a secondary slat 9 located below trap door 3 that re-
duces the transverse section of removal hole 17. As mentioned above, one of
the
problems that occurs when cleaning stable compartment floor 14 is the danger
of
young animals falling into pit 15 during the cleaning operation. Therefore
this sec-
ondary slat 9, defines secondary openings 18 that are much bigger than
openings 6
of trap door 3 so that it is easier for the excrements to fall through, but on
the other
hand, small enough to prevent young animals from falling through them.
Optionally, secondary slat 9 can be removed from chassis 2. By means of this
solu-
tion, secondary slat 9 can be cleaned thoroughly, for example, when the
compart-
ment is not being used by any animal.
In order to ensure that trap door 3 is firmly closed, this embodiment provides
click-
ing means 13 that act between trap door 3 and secondary slat 9 of chassis 2.
These
clicking means 13 prevent generating an opening torque that could accidentally
lift
trap door 3 if the animal walks on the area between axis 5 and wall 19 of
chassis 2.
Such a situation could cause a young animal to fall onto secondary slat 9 and
be
squashed by trap door 3 in its downward movement.
There follows below the description of an operating mode of slatted device 1
ac-
cording to the invention. Beginning with the view shown in Figure 1, trap door
3 is
raised, for exampie by hand, and is rotated around axis 5, in the direction of
arrow A
in Figure 1. This movement continues until trap door 3 has reached a
relatively
raised position. Figure 3 shows trap door 3 in a position that is nearly 900
with re-
spect to stable compartment floor 14. However, it is not necessary to complete
the
900 to subsequently insert trap door 3 into pit 15. In fact, the necessary
rotation an-
gle for inserting trap door 3 depends essentially on the shape of frame 4 and
the
free space available inside pit 15. So, once a raised position is reached such
as that
shown in Figure 3, trap door 3 is inserted in the direction of arrow B inside
pit 15, by
moving side guides 7 of trap door 3 along pivots 12, in other words with
respect to
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chassis 2. This way, trap door 3 remains in its final position and the stable
com-
partment fioor can be cleaned. In this position the excrements on the
compartment
floor can be easily pushed so that it falls inside the pit, without trap door
3 present-
ing an impediment.
Once the floor cleaning operation is completed, trap door 3 can be closed
again by
inverting the steps described above.
As can be seen from this description, the slatted device for stable floors
according
to the invention succeeds in resolving in a particularly novel, simple and
comfortable
way, the technical problem of cleaning stable floors without the trap door of
the de-
vice jeopardising the cleaning operation.
